Crest
by Lyra Kamiya
Summary: Who is it that Rika truly loves? and how can she convince herself of it? *Sorry, was originally a variety of first persons, and I accidently left some of the I/my-s in Kyuubimon's section*


*ahem* amazingly enough, NOT a song-titled fic. Friggen miracle.  
This is based off a plan I had long ago for a Taiora. Never made it off the planning stages. Oh well. Now, it's… well, not what it appears at the begging. You all know I'd never write a Rukato. If you know me…. You know what this will turn out to be. Of course, only Rika and her crew would know that… *writes "Pooky" on "Chris the Takato's" tombstone* So with that said… on to one of my longer fics! Yes, amazingly enough, it's a one shot!

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Crest

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Lyra Kamiya

{Alright. It sounds crazy that I like him. Hell, this is me, it sounds crazy that I like anyone. I always thought he was the world's biggest idiot. Damn near hated him.

But a few weeks back, I saw him waling along with Jeri. Now don't get me wrong, she's just about my best friend. But something about how happy they looked together just…irritated me. And then -- the he _kissed_ her!!! I could feel my blood boil at that exact moment. And it only got worse when I saw the calm smiles on their faces when they realized I was there.

I could have killed her right then. Because she had something I didn't. Someone who cared for her. Specifically, the last boy, well, nearly such, that I'd expect to feel anything towards except hatred, pity, or amusement.

Takato. For some strange unknown reason… I like the idiot no0w. And I'll do anything to get him for myself.

Even if that means I have to betray two, if not all three, my best friends. Jeri, obviously… it's the guy she's with I'm after. Henry, well, I'm afraid he's a tool in my plan now. And Renamon… she just may never trust me again after this.}

And yet… as she wrote that simple entry, two pages, the first two diary pages she had ever bothered to write… Rika didn't stop to ask herself why, if she was risking so much, she was still bothering to go through with it.

**********

The day started out as calmly and usually as it could. As they walked to lunch though… Henry, he could sense Rika's tension, or else her intentions… He kept sending her nervous sideways glances. Maybe he'd always done that, and she just hadn't bothered to notice until that day. This was all 6 of theirs' first year in school together, only because until then she'd gone to school separate from the others. But no matter what, it really did still feel weird to all of them for all of them to be walking together. Kazu and Kenta were just a couple of paces ahead of Henry and herself, and Kazu was going through his standard annoying habit of walking backwards from time to time to talk to all of them. A simple glance backwards revealed that, once more, Takato and Jeri were a little too far behind them for Rika's comfort.

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It's time to put my plan into action. Kazu and Kenta rounded the corner ahead of them, it was the last one before the cafeteria… They could hear heard them both break into a run down the hall, hoping to get into line first, because there'd be pizza today. With the moment their footsteps were no longer audible…

Rika grabbed Henry by the shoulders of his vest and pushed him against the wall. She quickly glanced sideways… Takato and Jeri were still heading down the hallway, and had yet to notice her actions. They were the only one left in their particular corridor… she leaned my forehead against Henry's best she could despite our height differences. A look of shock and almost… of terror… was there, was shining in his wide gray eyes. She didn't know why, but it hurt her to see that… only happiness belonged in his eyes, ones that were too often plagued with despair or hatred. She quickly tried to choke out the "work with me!" that she'd planned, but the words just wouldn't come.

Rika closed her eyes, tightly, no longer able to bear the expression in his eyes, and pressed her lips fiercely over his. She heard the footsteps behind them stop… moments layer, they resumed, much quicker, as Takato and Jeri scurried around the corner and off to the lunch room in verbal silence.

She let her lips slip, still trembling, away from his, and leaned against him for a brief moment, almost crying. Let her arms drop down to her sides, no longer holding him to the wall. His breathing had almost locked up… her own was going about twenty times faster than it should of…

One of his hands shakily touched my arm. "Rika?" he asked softly, gulping as Rika looked up and they traded breathing rates.

She couldn't take it. Before it wouldn't have mattered, but, she'd just betrayed one of her best friends. _One of the few,_ she realized suddenly, _that has ever actually cared about me_. Something about that look in his eyes as she stared back up at him… was filled with more pain then she'd seen in them in any of their time as Tamers, and even in her own in her entire life. But yet she felt it was really… her, who was hurt at that moment… because the calm, overly telling yet emotionless stare had the ability to cut straight through her soul.

"I'm sorry," she managed to whisper, barely hearing it herself and doubting he heard it, before racing off down the hall. _I never want to have to face him again._

**********

"Guess I'll never know what that was about," Henry mumbled weakly, keeping his hand lightly touched to his lips as he sat down across from Takato at the lunch table. The quick sparkle of hope there in her eyes had been enough… It had told him everything he needed to know, she hadn't needed the quiet "sorry". _I was the one who needed to be sorry, for not realizing that something was wrong there before. She needed, at least, some type of attention._

He wasn't quite sure what she had been trying to say, what that moment had meant… other than a lot. That quick, almost unseen glimmer in her eyes, and the tremble in her touch told him that she needed help. She was scared… though of course, *she* wasn't about to admit it.

"What _what_ was about?"

"Yeah, and what's up with you and Rika?"

He looked at his two friends who'd just asked questions he couldn't correctly answer. "You two both just answered each others questions better than I could hope to," he said truthfully, hoping that that fact would confuse them long enough for him to sort the whole situation out himself.

"Dude, stop being all like, philosical!"

"It's _philosophical,_" Kenta corrected weakly, as both the boys looked up hopefully at Henry. They hadn't witnessed Rika and his awkward moment, and thus were probably more lost then him. For the best, for that moment.

He didn't answer anyone, he didn't even speak for the next few minutes. Time inched by as he, and soon the others, kept their eyes locked on the only accessible entrance to the cafeteria, slowly sipping a soda and occasionally bothering to eat a bite of his lunch. He would wait for her to return for as long as it took her. They both had all the same classes for the rest of the day, so it'd be near impossible for her to avoid him completely…

"Unless," he whispered, finally breaking the by-now confused table's silence. A quiet beep from his D-arc accompanied his simple statement, as the different tones of the others' came at the same moment. He knew what it wasn't, and knew what he hoped it was. He picked it up and stared at the 'Digivolution detected' notice on the small holographic screen.

One thing you should know about Henry. He doesn't cuss. He "has to be pretty upset before I cuss, or else shocked out of my mind."

"Shit," he muttered, storming out of the room and heading for the outer doors, not even bothering to take his half-finished lunch with him. _Crazy, that's what she is!_ he thought, muttering in my mind.

Although he couldn't see them, he knew the others were staring as he marched sternly out of there. Whatever was upsetting her, it must have been fairly bad for *her*, of all people, to be ditching school. _Just to avoid me!_ he wasn't mad at her or anything… He supposed he must have been, the second that she kissed him, but he was everything right then!

He heard the others' footsteps come up behind him just as he got outside. "Aren't you - er, we, going after her?" Takato stuttered, as the 5 of them watched 9 yellow tails disappear into the forest.

"No."

"But-"

"The best thing we can do for her right now, is to let her be."

**********

Kyuubimon glanced up and stared back in the distance at the school Rika'd had her help her flee from. The end-of-lunch bell was ringing. She sighed and looked back over at Rika. "Aren't you going back?" she only needed one look at the young girl's face to know her answer. "Then, I'll stay here with you," she smiled, though she knew it was of little comfort since her's was that of a wolf. With slightly tearful eyes she came and gave her a hug, before collapsing against her neck.

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So little solace I can give her, she felt. _She's my best friend, someone who actually cared about me for something other than my strength. But more than that, she's my partner. It seems like a step down to most… but the fact that her mind and mine worked so well together as one that we are Tamer and Digimon, and could even fuse for my Digivolutions… Our Digivolutions, truly…_ _It makes me feel closer to her,_ although she had no idea what was wrong, Kyuubimon struggled to comfort her. She nuzzled her arm softly then laid down beside a tree, letting her lean against her.

"Don't you want to change back?" Rika said softly, holding up her Digivice.

"No," she whispered. "I find that my attention wanders more than I do when I'm at my Rookie level…" _And,_ she added silently, _It just seems easier for us to talk when I'm like this. Maybe you view me as your equal now._ she didn't know why she thought of it that way… But Rika viewed, at least in the past, so few to be worthy of her presence, and it was as Kyuubimon, not Renamon, that she first gained her trust.

"Oh…" rika said slowly, leaning further against her. It was like so many of the human fair tales they had seen… the girl, cast by choice or force from the world she came from, taking comfort in the company of the majestic creatures of the forest…

"You still haven't told me why you were so anxious to leave the school…"

"I… it's something you wouldn't understand," Rika countered a little too quickly.

"Because I'm not human, right? I'm not the same as you. And yet, you lean against me now, and talk to me for the most part, as if I were any other human," Kyuubimon suggested.

She looked so startled at the revelation… she gasped lightly and spun around, burying her face in my mane. Kyuubimon sighed softly… She had hit something sensitive there. _I shouldn't have brought it up at all, she and I had been struggling on that for the past two years, on whether I should be treated and should act exactly as a human, since my personality did have that of some human girls… Or whether I was something different, to be regarded as different even though we lived on the same level._ It had all started as a communication problem, and eventually landed at such a touchy debate that whichever of the two mentioned it would easily send the other one off fuming or crying by the mere mention… This, however, was only the second time in both those years that Rika had been the one crying.

"I'm sorry," she whispered gently, closing my eyes and setting them to my paws, facing the other way.

"No, I am, Kyuubimon. I did something so stupid… and I've hurt you and the others anyway, before this whole mess even began…"

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"But I should. If not him, I have to tell someone. God, Kyuubimon… I'm so confused. I… I always tried to ignore liking anyone…"

"Like how it took you so long to trust me?" she added.

"No… no, it's different from that. My… my parents, they didn't truly care about each other. Or, except my mom recently, me either. That's why I had practically no family. So… I learned that love was a joke. Nothing to be trusted. Until, a few weeks back, when I finally decided to stop believing that… I know longer knew what it was.

"I did what no one should do, Kyuubimon… I mistook jealousy for love. I was so jealous of Jeri for still knowing what love was, and for having someone to love… That I tried to take him away from her."

"Takato?" Kyuubimon questioned softly. Rika nodded, gulping hard.

"The first thing that popped into my mind… was to use Henry to get him. Henry's always the first thing that pops into my mind for anything. I didn't know what that was, until… until today, when I," she trailed off.

"What happened, Rika?"

"It was so stupid!" she screamed, pushing her face back into Kyuubimon's side with a little too much force. She winced at the small human's action, then nudged her gently. Rika looked back up, tears streaming uncharacteristically down her face. "I kissed him, Kyuubimon. To try and make Takato as jealous as I was. But all it did… was make me remember what I'd told myself to forget. Love has only brought pain into my life before… and that's all it's bringing right now…"

"Maybe, Rika…" Kyuubimon said softly, trying to sound insightful, "It's not the love that's getting to you." Rika looked up at the giant fox with an expression of question. "Maybe… it's that you don't think he could love you…"

"How could he, after what I did?"

"All you did, is tell him without speaking. You have to do with him what it took you so long to do with me. _Trust_ him. Rika… it's no coincidence that the moments you trusted me the most are the moments I Digivolved to the next level for the first time…"

"But we don't…"

"Not visibly, no. You don't have crests in that sense. But you do, really. Ours… ours is Trust…" Rika smiled and whispered a quiet thank you before standing up and climbing up on Kyuubimon's back.

"Let's go back…"

"Sure you can face him again already?"

"Oh, trust me. I'll think of something…"

*********

"Well," Henry laughed, sipping a soda as they sat on the couch at his apartment, "If that's how it all happened… That only leaves me with one question… What are our crests?"

Rika smiled and shrugged, kissing him gently and sighing as they watched The Matrix for the fourth time that weekend. "Probably something else we'd never think of… your always so calm, though. But I still don't know…"

"Well, I trust we'll know soon enough…"

*hears one of her friends whining in back about the number of cheep jokes near the end* *another about the lack of mush* *another about wanting more!* Well, the last two of you will get what you want. But forget me abandoning cheep jokes… oh, and I got her crest from something I was going through quite a while back, deciphering crests for my own chars and then I realized that some of them fit this group perfectly. If I can get anyone besides these three to say something about the story, I might write about the others'… So review please! Ja ne to heiwa, ai Lyra-chan!


End file.
